Not to put too fine a point on it but the continued selection of players like Kljestan and Eddie Johnson makes me want to vomit. And if the are indeed chosen for the WC squad I will seriously question the intelligence of the coaching staff. Neither has any business anywhere near the squad. Neither does Bedoya for that matter.

We had better begin thinking ahead and considering younger players to fill out these '3rd string' roster spots. There is simply zero reason to take any of those marginal players when we could be getting other potential future players some experience.

As for your 3rd striker selection that you would pick but for a "slump" (Boyd I presume?) - are you joking? I am seriously asking because I laughed out loud. Slumping? Er...umm... no striker in the entire world - literally in the ENTIRE WORLD - is in a bigger 'slump' than Altidore. His time at Sunderland has been absolutely catastrophic. Unless he shows pure genius in the tune-up matches between now and the WC, I would seriously question anyone who would pencil him into any starting lineup.

Boyd would go for me almost regardless, unless he has an injury and, right now, Altidore is the 3rd striker.

Wondo is not insanely far off EJ, but the EJ has the advantage in physical air ability I would want in the late sub striker. Also not really sure Wondo can translate his success against the highest level.

@futfan:

Okay, I am about to argue with you a lot. A whole lot.

1 - Both Kljestan and EJ are as of now not in my final 23 (coming later today). That being said, both are them are far more prepared for this level of play than most of the players below their place here. His last US outing aside, Kljestan has also done pretty well when played in his actual position for the USMNT, rare as those cases have been. You cannot judge him from being out on the wing in garbage time. For instance, did you know that Kljestan is the all-time American leaders in Champions League/Europa League/UEFA Cup assists?

2 - I have no idea what your problem with Bedoya is.

3 - Third string roster spots are the alternates. As for getting green players experience, that is ohhh just about the last consideration one should have at a World Cup.

4 - Yes, Boyd is in actual slump, missing chances. In the Austrian League. Altidore is in the Premier League. And his slump is much more a matter of never getting chances. As I said when he was not producing goals for the US a couple years ago, he is not the main problem with his so-called slump. As for this no striker in the entire world stuff, think again. Just on his own team, Fletcher has been downright terrible this season, far worse than Altidore, even if he has scored one more goal.

5 - Altidore is the US starter and he should be. Dropping him to third for who? Sorry, but you cannot remove his USMNT play, his experience, his top level capabilities because of the putrid mess that is the Sunderland idea of how to play. His own play has not been anywhere near catastrophic, and he is the only player there that appears to understand attack concepts and teamwork. That team is a joke and Altidore is about 12th on the list of their problems right now, at worst.

As of now, he is my alternate to the back-up. So if one ahead of him goes down, he would then go to WC, but play very little. As a late strong forward/set piece & cross target, I think he is capable of doing the job.

Perhaps Boyd is also capable, but he is in a bit of a hard luck struggle at the moment. If the deadline to choose was today, I would go with Johnson and his fresher legs.

For some reason as soon as Gus Johnson said it was 1-1 in the barca game, I knew he was going to confuse Diego costa for Diego, and sure enough if he did, and then wynalda chimes in and all along costa was not even in the game when atletico scored.

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